From K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune:
Mike D’Antoni isn’t the only name that might be scratched off the Bulls’ coaching list.
The Pistons continue to give signs they won’t allow the Bulls to interview assistant Michael Curry.
Tellingly, Pistons general manager Joe Dumars, who has a strong relationship with Bulls GM John Paxson, allowed assistant Terry Porter to interview Thursday for the Suns’ job. The Pistons have had an extended break as they wait for the Celtics-Cavaliers series, which is headed to a Game 7, to determine their opponent for the Eastern Conference finals.
In the meantime, Paxson will move on to other candidates, having received permission to interview Jazz assistant Tyrone Corbin. The Bulls also will seek permission to interview Lakers assistant Brian Shaw.
Johnson is being (perhaps purposefully) oblique — what does “continue to give signs” actually mean? Let me take a guess: Johnson doesn’t actually know one way or the other if the Bulls have asked permission or if the Pistons have granted it, but since he’s compelled to fill inches, he’s tossing it out there.
If he’s wrong, well, he hedged his argument but refusing to say anything conclusive in the first place. If that’s not Johnson’s intent, he’s doing a poor job conveying what information he does have.
(via BallHype)
Off-topic, but Sheed is vindicated, **** Donaghy.
Damn right too. IMO no team currently playing should be entertaining any of this stuff. Much bigger fish to fry.
Why DOES all of this stuff happen now? Why can’t it wait two more weeks until more teams are knocked out of the playoffs? I agree with Laughton — there are much bigger fish to fry and this stuff is just a nuisance.
Kobe to the Knicks? Could happen.
Yes, reminds me of Larry Brown turning his back on us in ‘05. Fortunately, it looks like Joe isn’t going to let anything like that happen again, and his holding the reins on who talks to whom and when.
Sorry to play devil’s advocate, but the Knicks swiped D’Antoni out from under Chicago (remember, ESPN was reporting Chicago and D’Antoni only had financial details to work out and had a frame of an agreement in place) and Chicago has had a vacancy longer. That team needs a coach, especially so it can know where the coach stands with its boatload of free agents this summer and vice versa. I’m no Chicago fan, but I feel bad for them. They got hosed by the Knicks. The timing is unfortunate with the request to talk to Curry, yes, but a candidate is a candidate. No one around here seemed to be going ape when Porter interviewed with Phoenix. Is that because Porter has been a head coach before and isn’t a former Piston (who’s arguably being groomed to follow Flip)? Was there a sense that Porter “deserved” it and wasn’t homegrown? Chicago shouldn’t be able to HIRE anyone on our staff before our season ends (see: Bo Schembechler’s reaction to Bill Frieder taking the ASU job), but I see no harm in an interview that takes place in Detroit.
MP: I dunno if we’ve ever disagreed here before, but I don’t know how this is even comparable to Larry Brown. Brown was our HEAD coach publicly courting other positions as early in the season as March. It’s not even like Brown was giving interviews at a team’s request, he was openly soliciting interest of other squads. I find that to be a far greater crime that absolutely embarrassed our organization. Curry isn’t turning his back on us by taking the Bulls up on an offer to talk (if Joe allows it), he’s just seeing what they have to say.
@LB: We don’t disagree on this, I just may not have been clear enough: This is not even close the the Brown situation. I don’t have any issues with Porter interviewing with Phoenix, I don’t have any issues with Curry being solicited by Chicago. The fact that people are reaching out to us when we’re in the middle of a Trophy hunt reminds me of ‘05 with Brown. The point of distinction I was trying to make is that Joe won’t let that happen again, hence blocking Chicago in talking to Curry.
Hell, if Joe ok’d it, I wouldn’t have a problem with it. I trust his judgement.
We do disagree here though: “I’m no Chicago fan, but I feel bad for them.”
While they had every right to go for Ben Wallace, signing him was their death knell. While it turned out to favor us, it was a colossal mistake they’ll be dealing with for a long time (in the form of Larry Hughes contract). Granted, Paxson has made mistake after mistake after mistake. You can only allow so many fuck-ups before your owner has to pull the plug on a GM. They should be looking for a new GM as well as a coach.
As for D’Antoni, I don’t think I’d want to walk into a town where Paxson is GM, and where a trail of nothing but mistakes dot his history as an exec (save for letting Curry go). If the light at the end of the tunnel in Chicago was a bit brighter, it could have worked for D’Antoni. But the guy got cold feet for a reason, and I think Chicago shit their own bed there.
to end, here’s some wild speculation just for fun. If chicago had played their cards right, they could have had a starting line of hinrich/gordon/deng/aldridge/chandler… I don’t think D’Antoni would have walked away from that!
Why is Marc Jackson fellating Paul Pierce so much? Deserves to have his jersey retired even if they don’t win this series?
Eddie House is the halftime interview? Eddie House? For diving on the floor, like 99% of the league would have?
I love the stats being talked about. When did it become an asset to be “good at getting to the ft line?”
Boston fans as a group are some of the most loathsome people on Earth.
I dunno, maybe if your team and coach didn’t publicly bitch about the officials after every loss your team would get some of these close calls.
LeBron is out of his mind. They can beat us if he plays this well. What’s so awful about this game is we’re going to hear about “OMG GAME 7! LEBRON! PIERCE! DUEL!” forever. ESPN is throwing itself party because of the performance of those 2 guys right now. I bet we get a 30 minute feature about it on Sportscenter. Kill me.
Lucas, I think “getting to the FT line” is a very valid asset. Getting into the bonus early in the quarter. Taking advantage when you’re already in the bonus. Getting the other team in foul trouble.
Other Matt, this is one for the ages. I think it’s worth a 30 min. Sportscenter clip.
Give the Celts credit. They didn’t wilt in the face of Lebron the way the Pistons did last year.
I think they’ve gotten some confidence and they found that Pierce and not Garnett is there go-to guy. It’s going to be a war.
Garnett and Wallace is a wash. If Ray Allen stays invisible, Pierce won’t have enough to win it by himself.
this is going to be the longest 16.2 seconds EVER.
to beat boston Detroit must get them in foul trouble early - they have no bench whatsover. Billips and Stuckey must attack the rim
Well, Pistons face the Celtics on tuesday. I also love how Lebron chokes through-out the whole last minute of the game and then gives up on the game after steal. Shows great character.
Our biggest hope is that Doc continues to yank their rotation around and do completely inexplicable things. I feel pretty good that happening. I think Boston would be much scarier with a semi-competent coach.
the first game is tues when is the second game?
langlois new blog answered my question tues and thursday in boston and sat and monday in detroit
Go Pistons
i preferred to face the cavs for obvious reasons, but i can hardly watch lebron without hating, so i´ll take the c´s.
today the truth showed lebrons weakness - his defense, so come on tay..
now, i feel glad that the lebronathon 2007/08 has come to an end, now it´s time for some serious slugfests.
ohh … i forgot
GO PISTONS
LB’s Official Prediction: Pistons in 6. Celtics win Games 1 and 5, Pistons win Games 2-4 & Game 6.
I don’t know if anyone noticed but Garnett flat out disappeared down the stretch of game 7. Partly because Pierce was playing so well, but he was very hesitant to take a shot in the closing minutes passing off to teammates whenever possible and missing two key shots, (one an air ball.) You couple that with the player formerly known as Ray Allen, (although wouldn’t it be funny if he exploded against Detroit?) and I think the Pistons have the better team.
Huge advantage at point guard, Hamilton should get the better of the player formerly known as Ray Allen, and while Rasheed may not outscore Garnett, he should make it extremely tough on him defensively. Perkins is just a slob in there so you have another advantage with McDyess. Boston may have the advantage off the bench in that they can bring a little more veteran savvy, but Detroit counters that with more athleticism. It really comes down to Prince against Pierce. I was really impressed by Pierce’s performance in game 7, yet Lebron has never been known as a defensive stopper. If Prince can get about 15 a game and play consistent defense keeping Pierce around 20, the Pistons will win this easily. Had Cleveland advanced I would have been more nervous just because Lebron is too strong and too fast for Prince, but Pierce is a little slower, and while he may be stronger than Prince, its still a very favorable matchup.
In the three meetings we had w/Boston this year, Tayshaun held Pierce to: 11 (W @Boston), 19 (L @Home), & 15 (L @ Boston). If Pierce can’t improve greatly on that, Boston’s goose is cooked. 14, 13 & 16 is what he did in Games 3, 4 & 6 in the Cleveland series. Boston’s goose is already cooked in my mind, because Allen is nowhere and Garnett is still way too tentative to be the factor he was against us in the regular season. Then there’s the whole fact that Boston is 0-6 on the road in these playoffs. Technically, we’ll just have to wait and see what happens, but I don’t see how Boston is going to survive a playing us that many times in a row.
Although I would have loved a re-match with the LeBrons, this is what everyone has been waiting for. Bring it, Boston. This should be good.
I don’t know about y’all, but I am confused as hell why Mike Brown has a job still. Who has one guy play against five? And no one can tell me that his teammates aren’t up to snuff, because the Cavs have solid bigs, a good PG in West, and some good shooters. Why, why does he go 1 on 5? Because it worked last year in Detroit? Imagine the damage (if you can stomach it) that the Cavs would do with a better, offensively minded coach… especially if they keep their defense.
I kind of feel like when you have a chance to eliminate the most scary player in the playoffs, you have take the opportunity. That’s why I’m kind of glad that Cleveland is gone. I think they’re an awful team with an awful coach, but LeBron is just so good sometimes that he can beat you all on his own. I don’t think that anybody playing for Boston has that ability.
So, were we all witnesses?
ay, we witnessed a game of one-on-one ball (Pierce v. Lebron) with 8 other dudes standing on the court watching the action.
Quick, my point is that he doesnt earn the free throws, a lot of the time, they’re just given. I dont think Gibson is a bad player, but his greatest strength after making 3s is falling over and hitting free throws. Wade against the Mavs in the finals. Lebron against anyone. Probably KG in the upcoming series. I’ll value getting to the ft line when its someone like dwight howard who goes to the rim and gets fouled, not when its one of the nba’s chosen players or star floppers.
Entertaining game, though it didn’t quite make up for the rest of that tedious series. To state the obvious, if the Pistons play like they’re capable of playing, they can beat all the remaining teams. If they come out sluggish, we may be looking at another Game 7 on the C’s home floor. It’s all a matter of whether the layoff was good for them or had the opposite effect. The same could be said for the Celtics, these long series may be keeping them from relaxing (road losses notwithstanding.)Incidentally the last 5 ECFs, the team without the homecourt has come out the winner. Coincidence? Probably.
KG was pushing off on practically every single possession against Cleveland. The refs *finally* whistled on one push off on Joe Smith near the end of Game 7, and the knuckleheads at the Garden went off on a sustained “bullshit” chant. How hilariously ironic — it *is* completely BS that KG gets to push his opponents out of the way, and that he only gets a token whistle once.
I’m sure Rasheed will give the refs an earful if KG keeps that shit up, and it’ll be interesting. KG should have fouled out of every game before halftime against the Cavs if his chippy little BS push-offs were whistled.
J, Ray Allen used his off arm all game too. And he still couldn’t score on ol’ Wally.
Watching last year’s Eastern Conference champs go out in the second round makes me again appreciate what Detroit has done. Yeah, I know, only one ’ship (so far). But look at the other contenders in Detroit’s era: the Nets, Pacers, Miami, now the Cavs. . . And it’s hardly a clear path for the Spurs in the West.
I didn’t see the game so I must rely on my trusty Perkometer, but how can scoring 41 points when your opponent scores 45 be regarded as a great playoff performance?
Surely it must be easier for Pierce and Lebron to score points when they don’t play D.
Now to whip out my patented Hollingerkazoo and say that statistically, I hate Boston.
Kinda OT:
Reading this article at Fox sports has made me realize something. last summer, when Chauncey was a free agent, Joe D signed him to a big deal meant to keep him here for some time. I’ll admit I thought “That’s a big gamble to take on a guy that’s getting older.” He’s now 31. The funny thing is, 31 seems a hell of a lot younger now than it did last summer, because CB has a great young back up in Stuckey. Having Stuckey means we’re gonna get years of great CB on the court without wearing him out. 31+ years without a backup is older than 31+ with Stuckey around…
Ignore all those italics, btw.
Basketball is a team game and I didn’t see either team perform well as a team in that Celtics-Cavs game. Nobody would bat an eyelash if the Tay had 18 points, McDyess had 16 points, and Rasheed had 22 points yet that’s the production Cleveland got out of it’s frontcourt even with LeBron’s “monster” game. If Chauncey, Rip, and Tay go for 18 a piece it’s a balanced night but that’s still one more point than Pierce, Rondo, and Allen got tonight even with Pierce going for 41. I like Detroit basketball, where more than two players on each team score in double figures.
i repeat myself, but:
i feel optimistic. and i will leave it at that.
That game was boring. No Boston fan can rip on Detroit for boring basketball. It seems to me that every one thinks we still play first-one-to-70-wins games.
I will say that Detroit (and, yes, that means I’m giving a small amount of credit to Flip) has put itself in the best position possible to beat the Celtics. Aside from having home court.
I hope they’re exhausted and we bring our A game.
The Pistons have every reason to believe in their chances. The key will be Tay´s play, barring injuries. But the referees probably will play a huge part in this series, so let´s hope Detroit doesn´t give many opportunities to the Stern button.
See you in Hell, Celtics.
Anyone else bothered with the way the Celtics bench is on the court for over half the game (not checked in and playing, just crowding and then actually on court during play)?
The Celts were 0-7 against the line during the series. I like them in the 1Q and maybe the 1H of Game 1, and that’s it. I am going to make a pretty good size bet on Detroit +125 for the series when I get back to Vegas tomorrow.
IMHO, Detroit should be pick at worst. While Pierce has really stepped up, KG hasn’t, and Allen has disappeared. And let me offer this quote from Doc Rivers: Detroit is at home 82 games a year. Not only is this true, you can’t exactly say the same thing about Boston.
In other news, J-I have the feeling the series is going to be called like Game 7 today, it’s going to look like a WWE 10-man tag out there. JJJ-+1.